5 gal mix

M

mr.magic

Well-Known Member
ok i want to make a good soil mix for my plant and i want to grow it in a 5 gal bucket.


these are the the things i have avilable...

miricle grow organic poting mix
perlite
composted cow manure
worm castings
blood meal
bone meal
epson salts
dolomite lime

and im looking to find some sea kelp and green sand but kindof hard to find in stores where i live:leaf:


how would you advise me to mix this shit up?

and how much of each substance should i put into the mix?
 
dirt clean

dirt clean

Well-Known Member
Just go for the 7 gallon. Had the same prob, for like a dollar I got 7 gallon grow bags. Sorry, same mistake as the last guy. Check google. All kinds of soils.
 
Y

youraveragehorticulturist

Well-Known Member
You will do just fine in the 5 gallon bucket. I used almost exactly the same stuff for my first two grows. All stuff I could get at Walmart or Home Depot. Except I didn't have the worm castings.

Do you plan to grow from clones or seeds? Will you grow in the bucket the entire time?

If you are planning to, you will want to "layers" of soil in your bucket. The bottom layer will have lots of amendments, to feed your plant, and the top layer should be almost plain dirt so you don't burn your young roots.

Start with about 2 gallons of your MG potting mix, 1 gallon of worm castings and add about 1 gallon of perlite. To this "base" add 2 cups of blood meal, 2 cups of bone meal, 1/3 cup of epsom salts, and 1 cup of lime. A cup or two of the composted manure should be OK, but don't go crazy, I've heard it will burn plants pretty easily. Mix that all together, and the bottom 2/3 of your bucket should be full.

This will be where mot of your nutrients sit. You'll put a layer of plain MG soil with perlite and maybe some worm castings on top of this. That way, your young plant can establish roots in the "plain" soil, and when your plant gets bigger the roots will grow into the "hot" or well fertilized soil.

That should be enough to keep your plant healthy the whole time, but you may run out of nutrients if you run a super long veg time. If this happens, you'll see yellowing in your lower leaves. If that happens, you can simply mix up some more "hot" soil, and dump it over the top of the soil in your bucket. This will work as a top dressing. Or like green leave says, you could make a pretty awesome tea and just water with that.

Growing in soil makes me feel like a farmer, and it's like a fun, never-ending quest to find more stuff to add to your soil. I was able to find kelp meal pretty cheap at a local feed and farm supply store. I got some Bat Guano from Amazon, I don't know if you mess with that stuff, but I was able to find some for like $12, with no shipping charges.

For more info on soil, check out this thread.

https://www.rollitup.org/subcools-old-school-organics/44686-subcools-super-soil.html

good luck bro!
 
M

mr.magic

Well-Known Member
youraveragehorticulturist said:
You will do just fine in the 5 gallon bucket. I used almost exactly the same stuff for my first two grows. All stuff I could get at Walmart or Home Depot. Except I didn't have the worm castings.

Do you plan to grow from clones or seeds? Will you grow in the bucket the entire time?

If you are planning to, you will want to "layers" of soil in your bucket. The bottom layer will have lots of amendments, to feed your plant, and the top layer should be almost plain dirt so you don't burn your young roots.

Start with about 2 gallons of your MG potting mix, 1 gallon of worm castings and add about 1 gallon of perlite. To this "base" add 2 cups of blood meal, 2 cups of bone meal, 1/3 cup of epsom salts, and 1 cup of lime. A cup or two of the composted manure should be OK, but don't go crazy, I've heard it will burn plants pretty easily. Mix that all together, and the bottom 2/3 of your bucket should be full.

This will be where mot of your nutrients sit. You'll put a layer of plain MG soil with perlite and maybe some worm castings on top of this. That way, your young plant can establish roots in the "plain" soil, and when your plant gets bigger the roots will grow into the "hot" or well fertilized soil.

That should be enough to keep your plant healthy the whole time, but you may run out of nutrients if you run a super long veg time. If this happens, you'll see yellowing in your lower leaves. If that happens, you can simply mix up some more "hot" soil, and dump it over the top of the soil in your bucket. This will work as a top dressing. Or like green leave says, you could make a pretty awesome tea and just water with that.

Growing in soil makes me feel like a farmer, and it's like a fun, never-ending quest to find more stuff to add to your soil. I was able to find kelp meal pretty cheap at a local feed and farm supply store. I got some Bat Guano from Amazon, I don't know if you mess with that stuff, but I was able to find some for like $12, with no shipping charges.

For more info on soil, check out this thread.

https://www.rollitup.org/subcools-old-school-organics/44686-subcools-super-soil.html

good luck bro!
Click to expand...



mucas gracias. good info... i only have one poblom with your set up. i like make the bottom layer of the bucket with a slightly more drainablility and the top layer with moreof the nutes. my transplant is already about 8in tall.

im growing some delicious mexican bagseed. it smoked soo smooth and smells sweet kindof like cantalope. the shit was goldish in color. we get it once a year where im from (south tex)

im hopung to raise the thc contant a bit:blsmoke:
 
G

gangjababy

Well-Known Member
use 40% perlite, 30% peatmoss, and 30% compost. Forget about all the other stuff and get some water soluble nutes
 
dirt clean

dirt clean

Well-Known Member
where does the K come from in this soil and super soil? I was like whoa, i def dont undrstand something here as I got ready to call shit complete.
 
greenleafhigh

greenleafhigh

Well-Known Member
gangjababy said:
use 40% perlite, 30% peatmoss, and 30% compost. Forget about all the other stuff and get some water soluble nutes
Click to expand...
Yea i wouldnt sugest this water soluble nute are a quick way to do it ....protect your investment... When Im it a pot i like to put a thin layer of gravel just to not have water just siting in my dirt.....then just add perlite through out to get it nice and airy....theaveragehorticulturist has a pretty good mixture maybe a lil think if i would change anything i would add a lil more perlite through out then then gravel layer on bottom...
 
Y

youraveragehorticulturist

Well-Known Member
Haha. Sorry guys, I forgot to mention that I put some gravel in the bottom of the bucket. Lately, I've been lazy and use lava rocks from Home Depot.

The K comes from the Epsom Salts. There are also small amounts in some of the other stuff. The kelp meal I use has a pretty high K value, plus a whole bunch of trace elements.

Probably a good call on the perlite. More drainage is always better.
 
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